Black History Month: Closing the racial wealth gap
DELMARVA – “I’m thinking about Dr. King and his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. His dream was not that his people would be in this perpetual cycle of poverty,” Gunn said.
In 2022, for every $100 in wealth held by white households, black households held only $15 dollars, that’s according to the Brookings Institution. CEO of Gunn Wealth Management La Mar T. Gunn said that’s a byproduct of centuries of slavery in the United States. “Then beyond that we’ve had things like segregation, many discriminatory policies, and more than have deprived black communities of wealth building opportunities,” he said.
Despite adversity, Financial Advisor Jonell Malone said African Americans have always had the ability to turn lemons into lemonade. “After the slaves were freed, a lot of black people were basically entrepreneurs the whole time. They were out there selling and doing the things they knew. In turn, the created a lot of wealth for themselves,” Malone said. “Even Black Wall Street, and how they developed those different things where they had skills and businesses throughout the community.”
Data now shows that black wealth is increasing, just as the racial wealth gap continues to widen. Gunn told 47ABC that breaking generational curses looks like increasing financial literacy, investing in real estate, entrepreneurship, and even investing in stocks and bonds. “We have to get to a point of getting in the game. The stock market is where you can work hard for your money and then make your money work hard for you,” he said.
Malone said that the time to start is now, as black success and wealth accumulation helps us all. “You’re never too young. If you’re telling me someone can learn how to play a sport or learn how to play an instrument at an early age, they can definitely learn how to use money and how to diversify it in their life,” he said.
Gunn Wealth Management also launched their Camp Wall Street program, that teaches kids as early as kindergarten important principals around money and investing.
Gunn Wealth Management told us other ways to grow your wealth include estate planning, investing in your community, and building your financial network.
To connect with Malone and find out more about the services he offers, click here